Diddy’s Harlem School Partnership Cut Amid Rape Allegations

HARLEM, NY - School officials say Rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs "Gotta Move On" from a partnership with the Capital Preparatory Harlem Charter School he helped open in the neighborhood after multiple lawsuits alleging the musician of sexual abuse surfaced this month.

In a now-deleted statement posted to the school’s website Tuesday, Capital Preparatory Schools' founder and head of schools Dr. Steve Perry announced the partnership split.

“Following a comprehensive evaluation, a decision has been made to end the partnership between Capital Preparatory Schools and Sean Combs,” Perry wrote. “While this decision was not made lightly, we firmly believe it is in the best interest of our organization’s health and future.”

Combs, who grew up in Harlem, initially recruited Perry to bring his teaching model from Connecticut's Capital Preparatory Schools to Harlem and was involved with the local school’s 2016 opening, The New York Times reported.

“I think that there’s a lot to be found in the fact that you have someone such as Combs, who is highly visible within our community, who has decided that his major push is going to be with our model and in education,” Perry told the outlet in 2016.

Three women have accused the “I’ll Be Missing You” singer of sexual abuse in lawsuits filed this month. One of those lawsuits, filed by singer Cassie who accused him of raping and physically abusing her for nearly a decade, has since been settled.

According to the lawsuit first reported by The New York Times, Cassie dated Combs and claimed that not long after she met him, he abused her by giving her drugs, beating her and forcing her to have sex with male prostitutes while he filmed the acts.

The suit also claims that in 2018, near the end of their relationship, Combs broke into her home and raped her, the Times reported. The lawsuit was settled less than 24 hours later, Patch previously reported.

The other two lawsuits were filed Thursday on the eve of the expiration of the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law permitting victims of sexual abuse a one-year window to file civil action regardless of the statute of limitations.

In one filing obtained by The Associated Press, Joi Dickerson claims she was a 19-year-old student at Syracuse University when she agreed to meet Combs at a restaurant in Harlem in 1991.

After their date, Combs “intentionally drugged” her, then brought her home and sexually assaulted her, according to the filing. She accused him of filming the assault and later sharing it with friends in the music industry, AP reported.

The two lawsuits are ongoing, with Combs’ team denying any wrongdoing on the part of the rapper.

“This last-minute lawsuit is an example of how a well-intentioned law can be turned on its head,” his team said in a statement, per VIBE. “Ms. Dickerson’s 32-year-old story is made up and not credible. Mr. Combs never assaulted her, and she implicates companies that did not exist. This is purely a money grab and nothing more.”

A second unnamed accuser claims Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall took turns raping her and her friend in 1990 or 1991, according to the complaint obtained by Rolling Stone.

In the days following the alleged assaults, the woman claimed Combs visited her home and turned violent, assaulting and choking her until she passed out, Rolling Stone reported.

In a statement emailed to The Associated Press, a spokesperson for Combs denied the allegations, accusing the two women of seeking to exploit the New York law that temporarily extended the statute of limitations.

Combs has since stepped down as the chairman of REVOLT, a media network he founded in 2013.

“While Mr. Combs has previously had no operational or day-to-day role in the business,” a statement from REVOLT’s Instagram reads, “this decision helps to ensure that Revolt remains steadfastly focused on our mission to create meaningful content for the culture and amplify the voices of all Black people throughout this country and the African diaspora.”

-With reporting by Megan VerHelst.